John F. Kennedy: The lost tapes

On Thursday, Nov. 22, many Americans will gather with friends and family to give thanks for all the good things they share. But at those dinner tables, many older Americans will also share a sad memory.

But over the years, public opinion polls have shown that many people don't buy the official version of events.

Some have searched for their own answers by reading the books of a longtime Monterey resident, author Harrison Livingstone. He has written many New York Times bestsellers about the assassination.

In his books, Livingstone declares Kennedy to be the victim of a government coup d'état, the target of a conspiracy that reached the highest levels.

"There were a lot of military involved, certain agencies in the federal government, some members of the mafia were used. A lot were used just so they would be implicated and would therefore assist in the cover-up. They had to... to protect themselves," Livingstone said.

It was a scheme played out, right in front of our eyes, and the Warren Commission was part of the cover-up, he said.

The Warren Commission's report stated that Oswald fired two shots from above and behind Kennedy's open limousine from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository.

But Livingstone says at least one gunman was pre-positioned in front of the motorcade, hidden in manholes located on the railroad bridge near the grassy knoll with cars parked above to hide the assassin. He says the gunman had a perfect view of the motorcade, using a high-powered rifle from about 200 feet away. It was an easy shot.

Why kill JFK?

Livingstone says it was because Kennedy had started to make it clear he was not going to get the U.S. into a land war in Vietnam.

Livingstone believes that upset the moneymaking plans of a secret inner circle of major players inside the military-industrial complex. He also accused then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson of being part of the conspiracy.

"(Johnson) was their stooge because they had to save their bacon in the Vietnam War. They had built up a brand new defense industry in Dallas and Fort Worth," Livingstone said.

After spending most of his life investigating the Kennedy assassination, Livingstone has put together the pieces of a puzzle that, he says, all add up to conspiracy.

That crucial evidence can be found on “The Lost Tapes,” tapes he recently recovered after they'd been mistakenly filed away in Dallas.

They are tapes of interviews Livingstone conducted more than 20 years ago with two groups of witnesses: Some were there when Kennedy's body arrived for the official autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington.

Meeting in Dallas in 1991, they came together in one room for the first time. They compared notes and memories with a second group who was there when the wounded president arrived at Dallas' Parkland Hospital.

On the tapes, they question the official version of events. They all say the way the autopsy was conducted, points to a conspiracy.

One witness, Dr. Robert McClelland, was in the emergency room when Kennedy was officially declared dead. On The Lost Tapes, he examines autopsy photos taken later at Bethesda Naval Hospital. As the two groups pass the official photos around the table, Dr. McClelland questions whether they actually show the damaged brain of Kennedy that he saw in Dallas.

"You know what I'm wondering is this the skull from somebody that was used was used to make those x-rays? I think this was somebody else. This right here could be the edge of a ball peen hammer," McClelland said.

The lost tapes prove that the autopsy photos were created to cover up the wounds inflicted by another gunman firing from the front of the limousine, Livingstone said.

Lee Harvey Oswald..."was completely innocent and he would have been able to prove that in court and that's why he was shot," Livingstone said.

On the Sunday after the assassination, Dallas businessman Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald as he was being escorted by officers out of the Dallas Police Department. Ruby later died in prison; Livingstone believes it was just another part of the conspiracy, a way to cover the tracks of the real assassins.

For most of the past 49 years, Livingstone has pursued his passionate search for the truth about the killing of a President he viewed as a personal hero. Another Kennedy assassination conspiracy book is on the way.

It’s been 49 years since the assassination. Many of the witnesses have died. Livingstone says he doesn't have much time left either -- he has terminal cancer.

Why focus on the assassination in his final days? He says, “Because I think I'm doing God's work and that is to speak against violence in our political process."

Harrison Livingstone says he's not afraid to speak truth to power, because he's in the hands of a higher power. And he believes solving the case of the conspiracy to kill President John F. Kennedy, will leave power in the hands of the people.